


the charm of your arms 101

by driedupwishes



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Asexual - Sirius, Bisexual - Remus, Hijinks & Shenanigans, M/M, Marauders, Marauders' Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-29
Updated: 2015-04-29
Packaged: 2018-03-26 07:01:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3841546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/driedupwishes/pseuds/driedupwishes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Should’ve known,” Sirius continued, “that boring old goodie-goodie Remus would rear his head eventually. He always does…”</p>
<p>Remus went still, tension suddenly back in his shoulders. Sirius lifted his head to grin at him, broad and pleased and completely unapologetic, because there was nothing more Remus hated than being cast as the kiss ass and Sirius Black fucking <i>knew it</i>.</p>
<p>Remus didn’t even pause. He threw himself across the couch, slung his arm around Sirius’ neck, and hauled him up in one gangly limb tangled stumble. Sirius squawked, fingers curling in Remus’ jumper as he floundered to his feet, and for one fucking brilliant moment they were nose to nose, breaths mingling, Sirius’ eyes going warm and soft in the dying light of the fire and Remus forgot what it was he was trying to do.</p>
<p>“Is this part of the lesson, teach,” Sirius whispered, waggling his eyebrows like the annoying git he was. Remus loved him all the same.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the charm of your arms 101

“Come _on_ , Sirius,” Remus groaned, slumping sideways on the couch. He had to bite his tongue on the second part of the sentence, which was the age old joke of be serious!, mostly because he was too tired and comfortable for that argument. All he wanted to do was curl against the warm lean frame next to him on the couch and sleep, but he couldn’t do that until Sirius understood the charm theory for their test tomorrow.

“What do you mean _come on, Sirius_ ,” the sixteen year old in question sputtered. “I am coming on!”

Remus didn’t even bother to hide his snort of amusement or the way his shoulders slumped as the tension and frustration drained out of him. It was a poor choice of words, but it took Sirius a moment to realize his mistake. He made at face at the way Remus dissolved into little giggles, making a show of rolling his eyes as Remus buried his toes under his thigh.

“Ha ha ha,” Sirius drawled, nose twitching the same way it did when he was in his Animagus form. “The ace made a sexual remark and didn’t notice, how _funny_.”

Remus pressed his lips together to keep from grinning. Sirius usually found his accidental/sometimes on purpose innuendos hilarious, but frustration with the charm theory was making him sullen. “Don’t be grumpy,” Remus said, wiggling his toes under the other boy’s thigh to poke at him. “You’re no fun when you’re grumpy.”

Sirius looked honestly offended, face twisting in the flickering light from the nearby fireplace as if he was a creature of myth and lore, come to smite him for the offense. In reality he was a puffed up little pooch about to yap at Remus’ front door until he came out to play and honestly, that was part of the reason Remus loved him so much.

“I’m always fun,” Sirius shouted, like it wasn’t nearly twenty past three in the morning and everyone else was sleeping. He clamored around on the couch until he was facing Remus, crossing his legs and resting his palms on his knees. Remus tried not to get stupid in his chest about how Sirius settled so that his thighs were still covering Remus’ toes, not so much that he was squishing him but just enough to let him burrow and steal his heat. Still Remus found himself leaning forward, fighting the urge to take the other boy by the neck and pull him down on top of him so that they could curl together, Sirius’ head under Remus’ chin so that he could bury his fingers in his shaggy dumb hair and breathe in his scent and-

“You know what would be fun,” Remus muttered, trying to get both of them back on track. Mostly himself; he couldn’t deny how his attention was slipping by the second. Sirius opened his mouth, more than likely with a smart remark on the tip of his tongue, but Remus continued before he could butt in. “Mastering this theory so we both can sleep.”

Sirius deflated instantly. His lower lip stuck out, tempting, so tempting…

“And here I thought you were going to suggest another kitchen run,” the other boy muttered, flopping backward over the arm rest of the common room couch. Remus snorted, especially amused since their last kitchen run had been just an hour before. They had gotten so many sweets from the house elves they’d been forced to float them back to the common room, ducking Remus’ fellow prefects as they did so. They still had quite the pile on the coffee table next to the couch, enough to last them both the whole night if they chose to stay up that long. Another kitchen run would just be a waste of time.

“Should’ve known,” Sirius continued, “that boring old goodie-goodie Remus would rear his head eventually. He always does…”

Remus went still, tension suddenly back in his shoulders. Sirius lifted his head to grin at him, broad and pleased and completely unapologetic, because there was nothing more Remus hated than being cast as the kiss ass and Sirius Black fucking _knew it_.

Remus didn’t even pause. He threw himself across the couch, slung his arm around Sirius’ neck, and hauled him up in one gangly limb tangled stumble. Sirius squawked, fingers curling in Remus’ jumper as he floundered to his feet, and for one fucking brilliant moment they were nose to nose, breaths mingling, Sirius’ eyes going warm and soft in the dying light of the fire and Remus forgot what it was he was trying to do.

“Is this part of the lesson, teach,” Sirius whispered, waggling his eyebrows like the annoying git he was. Remus loved him all the same.

“Yes,” Remus said, abruptly pulling back and detangling their limbs. Sirius’s stupid quip had jarred his memory. He straightened his jumper, brushing off Sirius’ grip with his own little cocky grin while Sirius’ face fell, twisting into the childish pout Remus knew all too well. With a little laugh Remus grabbed at Sirius’ hand to drag him along, shoulder bumping the other boy’s as he did so.

Sirius did his best to kick up a fuss the whole way up to the dorms, but the closer they got to their dorm the quieter he became as curiosity won out. Remus didn’t even bother to hide his smirk, curling their fingers together so that it was more hand holding than dragging. Sirius pretended to gag, ducking down to press his face against his shoulder, nuzzling like a needy pup.

“If we fall down the stairs and wake everyone, I’m going to let you fail that test,” Remus muttered, taking the last flight of stairs two at time because he knew Sirius hated not leading the way. Sirius scrambled to keep up, huffing when his nuzzling was interrupted, jostling at Remus’ shoulder as they drew to their sixth year dorm door.

“You’d never let me fail,” Sirius muttered. Remus craned his head to raise an eyebrow at him, because he seemed to recall their third year herbology class and the resounding lack of pass grades Sirius received for weeks on end. But in the end he had crumpled and shoved his notes down the other boy’s throat until he’d managed to scrape together a passing grade just in time for the end of the year, so he guessed Sirius wasn’t wholly incorrect.

“Shush,” Remus said, digging his wand out of his pocket. He flicked his wrist at the door so that it would open soundlessly instead of the creaking horrible mess Peter had accidentally hexed it into being. Sirius pressed up against his back, peering over his shoulder since he wouldn’t go further into the room than a step, and with an ever growing grin Remus murmured, “honestly, the theory is as easy and applicable as _this_.”

He waved his wand with a softly curling muttered word.

Sirius had to be subdued with a silencing charm to keep everyone else from waking up when he realized what Remus was doing. The other boy dragged him bodily down the stairs and gleefully manhandled him onto the couch, rattling on with soundless lips, eyes bright with the glint that meant he finally fucking got it. Remus was so relieved he sunk into the worn comfort of the old common room’s couch, noticing with an absent glance that the house elves had been by, since there were two new glasses of butterbeer on the table, the crumbs had been cleared, and the fire had been stoked once more.

Sirius fell on top of Remus in a heave that left him faintly bruised and breathless, hands coming up to curl around Sirius’ hips to steady him. He murmured out a little laugh when the other boy seemed to realize he couldn’t understand a thing he was saying, face turning into a scowl that Remus reached up to trace with his thumb. Sirius nipped his thumb lightly, trying to look more annoyed than Remus knew he was. He picked his hand off the other boy’s hip to pull out his wand again, flicking it at Sirius to give him his voice back.

“I get it now,” Sirius said, lurching to toward over him, hands skimming along his shoulders for balance. “Honestly, if it’s as easy as that I don’t know why you didn’t just _say so_.”

Remus laughed, shifting under Sirius, tossing his wand toward the table still laden with their sweets so that it wouldn’t be in the way in his pocket. He wound his arms around Sirius’ waist, curled them together even more, letting his early sleepiness drift back as the warmth from the newly fueled fireplace crept across the room and into his bones.

“I tried to tell you,” he murmured, grunting as Sirius squirmed down to bury his face against Remus’ shoulder. Remus felt Sirius pull out his own wall and with a murmur mostly muffled against the shoulder of his jumper the mugs of butterbeer began to hover their way, bouncing slightly as Sirius continued to wiggle down, trying to get comfortable.

Remus rolled his eyes at the dramatics before reaching out to take both mugs by their handles in one hand with practiced ease, trading Sirius’ wand for a mug with his other hand before tossing the wand down towards his own, trusting that if he missed the house elves would straighten their mess. Sirius sat up just enough to down the entire mug in one go, something he had practiced with James in the Three Broomsticks the year before when the other thought it would impress Lily, but Remus just leaned to the side to sip at his drink. The process got progressively more difficult when Sirius deposited his empty mug on the floor and settled his weight over Remus’ heart, but Remus made do, free hand sliding up to drag his knuckles against the bumps of Sirius’ spine. When he finished his drink Sirius swiped it from him and dropped it on the ground next to his own empty mug before taking Remus’ dangling arm and wrapping it around himself like he was some kind of human blanket for the other boy.

“Bossy,” Remus muttered, grinning as he ducked his head down to press his nose against Sirius’ hair. Sirius muttered back something that sounded a lot like _goodie-goodie_ , but was otherwise quiet. And so they dozed, more than happy to curl on the couch and bask in the warmth of the fire and each other’s presence, until the sound of someone swearing at the top of their lungs woke them abruptly.

Remus felt Sirius jerk awake against his chest before he really registered what the shouting was about. He reacted to that first, arm tightening around the other’s waist, trying to pull him closer in the sleepy haze, but just as he began to blink open his eyes he got a knee in the gut as Sirius fell on him, knocking him breathless as his ears rang with a new sound.

Laughter, warm and familiar and perfect, with a backdrop of James swearing and Peter shouting.

_Ah_ , Remus thought with a grin. _So the fun begins._

Sirius was doubled over on top of him, face in his hair as he laughed, hoarse and sleepy and heavy limbed. Remus craned his head to look up at the sight above him, flushed cheeks and crinkled shut eyes, basking in that before he heaved them both into some sort of upright position so that he could see what was happening. Sirius fell back into his lap, sliding sideways so that he was pressing right on Remus’ bladder, one hand reaching to push the hair behind his ears while the other crept to curl around Remus’ throat, nails dragging of a kiss of their own against his skin there in a way that made him shudder and shift.

Peter was chasing a pair of shoes that were elegantly escaping his grasp around the room in circles. He was still in his pajama pants and an old t-shirt, one sock on as he scrambled after the pair of shoes. He looked frantic and confused, which was amusing in of itself, but of which was only made worse by the shout that rang down the stairs a second later.

“ _Sirius_ ,” James shouted, sounding beyond peeved. “ _You’ll pay for this_!”

Sirius’ laughter this time was boundless as he hunched over the edge of the couch to watch Peter’s shoes wind between other student’s legs to out maneuver their friend. The other Gryffindors making their way through the common room rolled their eyes at the sound of James shouting down the stairs, more than used to the four’s shenanigans. Even the first years hardly looked up, since the year was more than half over and this sort of thing was common enough.

James appeared at the bottom of the stairs just in time for Peter’s shoes to slip out of the common room door on the heels of a sleepy third year. The boy, still clad in his pajamas and looking pink cheeked with frustration, flung himself out the door admist a few startled shouts in a manner that almost made Remus feel bad.

Almost, but not quite.

“Don’t look at me,” Sirius laughed, splayed half over the back of the couch and only straightening so that he could fall back against Remus’ chest with another body shaking laugh. “I didn’t do a thing this time!”

James, bed headed and dressed in his rumpled robes, tie untied and hanging limply from around his throat, looked unconvinced. Remus craned his head and laughed when he saw that James’ shoes, much like James himself, had taken to his charm with the flair of a right little shit. They were bouncing like they were trying to dance around James’ bare feet, nudging at his ankles and then hopping away when James ducked down to try to grab them. James straightened with a scowl, messy hair flopped into his eyes, looking like he was three seconds away from flinging himself over the back of the couch and wrestling Sirius into fixing it.

“I want a divorce,” James declared. “You can have the kids, but I’m keeping the house.”

Sirius snorted sleepily and squirmed, trying to look small and sad but not managing it for his grin. “But where will I live,” he whined. Their joke ‘marriage’ had been a running gag since Sirius’ family had kicked him out and the Potters’ had taken him in and every other week the other was shouting for divorce over something or another. In reality Remus knew that they lived together quite happily and that James’ mother, through some miracle, had never gotten Sirius to pick up half the chores when they were home for the summer.

But that didn’t stop the lurch in his stomach or the protective way he wrapped his arm around Sirius’ waist. Jest or not it was too early in the morning for the thought of Sirius all alone in the world.

“Actually,” he drawled, sleep rough voice still lingering, “it was me.”

James blinked, baffled. “You? _You_ charmed our shoes?”

Sirius’s hand against his neck curled, thumb swiping down to trace at the edge of his collarbone sticking out of the neck of his jumper, entirely innocent but so warm. Remus shivered, eyes jumping from James to Sirius just in time to catch the curve of his smile before the other boy dipped forward, fingers curling in Remus’ hair as he pressed a soft kiss against his lips.

“Yeah he did,” Sirius said, leaning back with a stupidly proud grin as Remus blinked up at him, stomach in fond knots that he hoped would never go away. “Charmed them like a pro, our Moony did…”

James made a loud gagging noise, crossing his arms pointedly when they looked up at him. “Still want that divorce,” he muttered. They could see the twitch of his lips as he fought off a fond smile and they grinned up at him, Remus leaning forward a little to kiss Sirius’ cheek.

“Don’t worry,” he promised, not bothering to keep his voice down. “If James is still pissy at lunch you can come live with me.”

“Oh gross,” James muttered, slumping forward to lean against the back of the couch by their feet, probably as an excuse to keep a good distance between their lovey dovey cooties and himself when he was really giving them a bit of privacy. “Puppy love.”

Sirius, as usual, rose to the dog-human bait first. “Oi,” he said, leaning out of Remus’ face so that his raised voice didn’t bother him. Remus leaned forward anyway, pressing his nose against Sirius’ shoulder to hide the grin he knew had to be stretching across his lips. “You’re just sour because Lily isn’t impressed by _your_ tiny _antlers_!”

James, also as usual, fell for the tiny antlers prod. He sputtered, lunging up to swipe at Sirius’ head. Remus pulled the other boy down at the last second, curling a protective arm around his shoulders as he cradled the back of his head, shrugging unapologetically when James made a face at the move. The boy still standing by his animated shoes opened his mouth to say something when the object of his affections herself appeared at the bottom of the girls’ dorm staircase, green eyes tracing the living room in a sweep before they landed on the indignant looking James and the pair curled up on the couch.

Lily glanced down as James’ shoes, still animated with some kind of sentience of their own, bolted to dance around her heels as she stepped forward into the room. Sirius muffled his laughter as James turned positively pink at the sight, but Remus let his laughter ring out into the room without fear.

“Good morning, Lily,” he called, grinning wider when James shot him a sharp scowl. “You look very nice today.”

Lily looked between the shoes, James, and Remus again before smiling, wide and pretty and obviously amused. “Hello Remus,” she said, stepping over the affectionate pair of old battered muggle sneakers James refused to throw out. “Bedheaded and sleep deprived look good on you,” she teased. “I also like your new blanket; he looks very comfortable.”

Remus laughed while James sulked, obvious and obnoxious by the end of the couch. Lily stepped around him and drifted closer, glancing back only when James couldn’t see her face, her smile tipping sideways into something softer for a second before she focused again on Remus. It was something that happened a lot whenever she was around James, but Remus wasn’t one to call anyone out of hiding without reason. Lily and James would get their shit together in their own time, if they wanted to. For now he just enjoyed teasing James, as his own version of payback for the puppy love comment.

“I don’t know,” Remus said, hands dragging down Sirius’ back. The other boy seemed content to lay on top of him like a boneless heap of affection, which he very much wasn’t. “He’s bony and heavy and in desperate need of mouth wash, so I may go and throw him in the wash later.”

“Liar,” Sirius muttered, twisting to press his face against Remus’ neck. He spoke softly, so softly Remus wasn’t sure anyone else could hear him. “You love me.”

“But,” Remus continued, feeling his cheeks heat a little bit against his will, “I guess he’s not the worst blanket I could have picked.” He shot a pointed look at James, who sputtered as Lily craned to look at him as well.

“I’d make a great blanket,” James blurted out. He turned pink immediately after and, probably for lack of anything else to do, flopped face forward over the couch and groaned.

_Smooth_ , Remus thought with a smothered laugh. _Very smooth, Prongs._

“Looks like someone started off the day on the wrong foot,” Lily teased, eyes glinting brightly in a way that made Remus understand what James saw in her. Pretty and bright and funny, Lily Evans was a formidable girl indeed. Remus watched as James flushed all the way out to his ears, feeling warm and content deep in his chest in a way that made him scared he might one day lose all this.

But that day was far off, if ever coming, he thought, watching Lily grin so hard her dimples showed. He raised a hand from Sirius’ back to give her a high five as she walked past and she did so, pausing to reach down and ruffles Sirius’ hair like he was some kind of pup. Remus laughed, partially because Sirius’ looked offended at the motion and partially because he knew Lily had no idea of Sirius’ other form, meaning she had picked up that motion from them. He wondered what kind of face she’d make if he knew she was Marauder material after all.

She’d probably turn just as pink as James once she figured out what that meant. The thought made him shake with even more laughter and he shook his head at her questioning look, waving her on.

“Should I bother saving either of you breakfast,” she called back, tucking her hair behind her ear as she turned to leave. Remus shook his head no and with a shrug she left, glancing back only once at the still crumpled form of James.

“I hate you,” James muttered, straightening as he went to catch his shoes. Remus was sure he’d figure out how to reverse the charm within a few minutes, so he made no move to help him.

“Oh no,” Remus muttered back, still grinning. “However will I fill the hole in my heart left by your hate?”

James made a face, seeing where this was going before Sirius could move. That didn’t stop him from watching as Sirius wriggling back up, smiling slightly as he did so.

“I’ll fill it,” Sirius said, leaning down until their noses brushed. He was still pressing against Remus’ bladder, which was quickly becoming a problem, and he was indeed in desperate need of some mouth wash, Remus hadn’t been lying about that, but he was warm and bright and beautiful in a way Remus could hardly believe, hair messy and the corners of his eyes crusty with sleep. “I’ll make your heart whole again, Moony, don’t worry, I’ll-“

“Merlin’s pants,” James said, turning to leave. “You two are _insufferable_.”

Remus hardly noticed, though, as he reached up and carded his fingers through Sirius’ hair, cradling his jaw in his palms. He could feel the other boy’s heartbeat against the edge of his fingertips, the warmth of his breath against his lips as he pulled him close. Sirius met him halfway, chapped lips pressing warm and easy against his with a familiarity that made his chest clench, and Remus had one last thought before he got lost in the feeling of Sirius smiling against his mouth.

_It is a good morning, he thought. A very good morning indeed._

**Author's Note:**

> wrote this for a friend's birthday and ended up liking it more than I expected to. first time writing any of these characters, tho, lmao.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed!


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